But friendly.

Andrew quietly let himself into the apartment and collapsed onto the couch. His whole body was sore; Pat quickly took on the role of personal trainer and pushed him much harder than he expected. Maria greeted him wearing nothing but a set of lacy lingerie and a grin. She handed him a cold beer and sat next to him.

"You were gone for a while," she said brightly. "Were you at the gym that whole time?"

Andrew nodded and took a long pull from the beer. "I, uh, made a friend. We ended up working out together."

"Look at you!" Maria said with excitement. "Less than a week in and you're already turning into a regular gym rat. What's his name?"

Andrew cleared his throat and looked away. "...Pat," he said guiltily. "Her name is Pat."

Maria leaned forward, her eyes glinting curiously. "Her name? Your new gym buddy is a girl? Is she hot?"

Andrew waffled. "Uh, I guess. I mean, she works out. She's nothing compared to you, though."

"Of course not," Maria said with a laugh. "Look at me! I'm a goddamn work of art. Still, she must be pretty good-looking to have you this flustered. Look, you've even got a boner!"

Andrew crossed his legs as Maria reached for his cock. She looked at him strangely, then her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, Drew, do you think I'm gonna be jealous? Of your workout buddy? Why would I care?"

Andrew sighed with relief and uncrossed his legs. "I don't know, I'm- I just don't have a lot of experience. It seems like the kind of thing that would make a girlfriend jealous, you know? Spending that much time around another girl in skimpy workout clothes?"

Maria chuckled again and rested her hand between his legs. Slowly stroking his turgid member through the thin workout shorts, she smiled sympathetically. "It probably would make most girlfriends jealous, but I'm not most girlfriends. Honestly, I hope you get to fuck her. As good as I am I think you should learn how to charm a real woman."

Andrew stared at her, aghast. Maria stopped stroking when she realized she had upset him. "What the fuck?" he finally managed. "You hope I get to fuck her?"

"Well, yeah," Maria said as though it was obvious. "I don't care if you sleep around. Why would I?"

"Because you're my girlfriend!" Andrew said. "You're not gonna sleep around on me, are you?"

Maria straightened up. "Of course not," she said defensively. "But I'm a golem. I'm your golem. Golems don't set the boundaries of their relationships, people do."

"But it's supposed to be a two-way street," Andrew said. "You're acting like I own you or something. I don't want to be your owner, I want to be your partner!"

"And you are," she said emphatically. "We're partners. I just don't have any particular drive to control my partner and you do. That's perfectly normal, sweetie. I don't understand why this is such a big deal to you."

"Of course you don't..." Andrew said. He slumped backwards and drained the rest of his beer. "I keep forgetting that this isn't a normal relationship. It never will be, will it?"

In response, Maria left the room briefly and returned with a script. She held it out like a peace offering and Andrew eyeballed it. "Need someone to talk to?"